It’s interesting that in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker there are multiple plot threads about spaceships rising or wondering how they would land. Do you think Lucasfilm realized this would become a metaphor for the film when scripting? Because if not, that’s some great kismet as this new Star Wars movie struggles to take off into anything resembling a good movie and just barely sticks a landing for a saga 40 years old.
The tale begins with our heroes attempting to find whatever means they can to defeat the First Order. Rey is continuing her Jedi training under the tutelage of General Leia, though she doesn’t seem to be gaining the skills she wants. Finn and Poe have been moving about the galaxy andd get a message from a spy in the First Order. This brings everyone back together again and they try and find the clues to what could help them win their last stand. Meanwhile, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren has been hearing the call of a mysterious voice and after making it to Exegor finds that Emperor Palpatine is not dead and intends to raise the Sith back to world dominating prominence.
The above description is but a teeny tiny segment of the plot of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and the plot becomes the detriment of the movie. There are moments that are visually stunning and Oscar Isaac’s performance alone would be reason to see this film, but the plot keeps the movie from rising to any heights. There are so many threads this movie is attempting to weave, all while trying to act like barely anything in The Last Jedi happened. JJ Abrams has in effect made a sequel to The Force Awakens and that it would be wise to have all the characters band together and do all the things he would have done in two movies into one.
Also what good is having the characters banding together if they don’t have much to do? All this chatter in the media about how excited everyone was to be back and working together doesn’t amount to much for characters not named Rey, Poe, and Kylo. John Boyega might have more screen time this go round but if he just exists to be talking about Rey and shouting her name than does it really matter that you gave him more screen time? And poor Kelly Marie Tran, whose Rose Tico got sidelined like hell in this film. Imagine enduring all that she endured for just being in The Last Jedi, getting a new script, and seeing the part she had to play. She should fight everyone.
Furthermore, what Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker really sidelines is the originality that would have made this a fitting conclusion in favor of servicing a particular type of fan. If you disliked The Last Jedi, are a shipper, or a “dude bro”, this movie will probably rank high based on reasons I’ll get into in a spoiler section on Sunday. If you’re like me, then Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will just feel like two hours and twenty minutes of invested time that sadly weren’t enjoyable.
SPOILER SECTION
WARNING SPOILERS
DONT READ IF YOU DONT WANT TO SEE SPECIFIC PLOT DETAILS
First let’s get into the complete and utter foolery that is Rey’s ancestry. Disney had a winner with the presumed storyline of Rey’s parents being no one. It served as an inspiring note, along with the little boy at the end of The Last Jedi that anyone has the potential to be force sensitive. In tying her lineage to Palpatine, the movie undoes any good will and seems to have kowtowed to fan pressure to have her parents be something. We have already seen one person overcome their bloodline in previous films and in this they doubled down with Kylo also turning back to the light, so ultimately Rey’s story does have the same kind of verve that it should.
Speaking of Kylo, redemption arcs for white male characters who ruthlessly murder are played out and his redemption arc to me has always been unnecessary. These movies have all these political undertones and notions about good versus evil yet seem to give evil people with momentary shots of good full repentance. Having Kylo die is a good thing, having him kiss Rey only to die is fan service to the nth degree and utter horseshit.
Poe’s storyline to me was the best in the film and I want a saga on Keri Russell’s character, but having their relationship be what it was felt like an overcourse correction on any reading that Poe might be queer. Like it’s perfectly fine and even really funny, but probably unnecessary. This movie is so aggresively heterosexual that even the two random lesbians kissing at the end felt more like Disney wanting to pat themselves on the back for deigning to acknowledge LGBTQ characters at all than any kind of interesting moment.